As long as he was alive, Danan was considered as the smartest man in his village, but why did he feel like he turned stupid after being dead?Or, was he too shocked to accept the truth that he was dead already?
But, it didn"t seem to be the case. He was perfectly sure that he had accepted the fact that he was not a human anymore.
So, why did he feel so stupid? All the books that he had read before didn"t mention about chaotic aura. Even the knowledge he got from people"s experience felt unfamiliar with the words "chaotic aura".
He had never heard about it.
"What is chaotic aura?" He asked.
Sir Guntur who was turning around to leave stopped in his track and turned a bit only to give the young man a look from the corner of his eyes. After that, he snorted and walked away, ignoring the question as he made his way towards where he was sitting before and taking a sip of his drink.
"Chaotic aura is used to describe when dark auras clash with strong bright auras where dark auras should be dominant, but because of the presence of the strongest brightest aura, they are oppressed. But, it doesn"t really suppress the evil in bad auras. People usually have one dominant bright aura, several sub-dominant auras also exist for some people but not all of them, and a couple of dark auras. Just the weak ones." Chief Dewi Sasmaya spoke on behalf of the old man, but it was enough for Danan. At least someone could explain to him what they meant by chaotic aura.
"People who possessed chaotic aura usually would not live long. They either died young or went mad from the continuous clash between the auras inside their body. You, however, you were able to live past twenty years old, and I could say it was impressive. And you are even perfectly fine without any tendencies to go mad."
"Therefore, it can only be one thing; you are the right vessel of it. The dark aura couldn"t control you, but..." Chief Dewi stopped speaking for a bit as she peered through his eyes. Danan could feel the seriousness from her gaze. "It would affect the people around you, including your brother who killed you."
Danan went blank for a while. "You mean... it will make people around me to have intention to kill me?" He didn"t mean to whisper, but somehow his voice choked that he could only manage to let out a whisper.
"What? No! If that"s the thing, your mother, as the closest person to you, would have killed you ever since you were born." Chief Dewi smiled brightly, totally a different expression from her previous expression.
Danan let out a sigh of relief. "Then... why?"
"It didn"t affect your mother because of her true love for you, both of you, as her own flesh and blood. An unconditional love, your chaotic aura couldn"t defeat that. Chaotic aura can only affect those who already have bad intention. The longer that person stays with you, the better the effect is. Of course, it won"t affect anyone who only meet with you for a while. In your brother"s case, he had already had an intention to hurt you, probably because of envy. He might not really do it, but because of your presence around him, it only made his intention stronger. His intention also changed from wanting to hurt you to kill you. That"s all the chaotic aura"s doing."
"In other words, you have devil inside you."
The blow was too much for Danan this time. He staggered slightly and plopped on to the ground with shaky legs and hands. What Chief Dewi told him echoed in his mind, that he was the cause to his own death. For the first time in his life, he feared his own self.
"Don"t be sad. Even though having chaotic aura is bad, I"ve never heard it would still affect people after the vessel died. Also, dark auras are not the only ones you have inside you. Remember I said about strongest bright aura? You possess it inside you, too. Your kindness and intelligence s.h.i.+ne bright, proof that they are your strongest traits, able to suppress the devil inside you. As long as you keep it well, you don"t have to worry about your dominant dark auras." Chief Dewi made it sound like so easy, but Danan was not convinced at all.
"Kid, come here." Sir Guntur waved towards him, beckoning him to come closer.
Danan pushed himself up and with wobbly legs, he approached the old man. His mind was still in a mess, but he didn"t disobey the call of older people. Only after he felt the old man reached out for his arm that he winched and jumped backwards. Fear consumed him again.
"No, I"m sorry. I don"t want you to be affected as well." He said hastily.
Sir Guntur"s face darkened. "Come here!" He yelled angrily. "Do you think I"m a weak man? Your d.a.m.n auras cannot affect me, so just come here and let me take a look at you!"
Whether he spoke the truth or not, Danan didn"t know. But seeing the old man"s face contorted in anger, he didn"t dare to reject. In a flash, he appeared in front of the old man and let the old man grabbed his wrist.
Wait, grab his wrist? Danan looked at the wrinkly hand that was grasping his wrist tight in surprise. He didn"t see it wrong, the old man really grabbed his wrist and he could even feel the tightness from the grasp.
How could a man touch a ghost? Danan was speechless.
"Lad, I"ll help you getting used to your auras but you must obey me. Can you do it?" The old man looked at him seriously.
Danan gulped slightly, didn"t know how to respond. His eyes met with Chief Dewi"s gaze and saw her nodded, encouraging him to say yes.
"Yes." He said to Sir Guntur.
"Good. Now, we need to get rid of your human name. You need new name. Start from now, you will be Number Seven. You got it?"
Again, he was speechless. "Sir, why Number Seven?" He asked carefully, hoping that the old man wouldn"t yell at him again after he asked such question.
Sir Guntur snorted as he pulled his hand back. "It"s easy to remember. Seven is a lucky number. With all the dark auras inside you, you need some lucky charm attached to you."
Danan blinked. This old man picked that absurd name for him with that intention in mind, he couldn"t say that he didn"t like the name, right?
Whatever, it"s just a name, after all.
"Don"t worry, you"ll get a new name later after you finish your study." Chief Dewi said softly. "Now that my business here is over, I need to get back to take care of some matters. Number Seven, welcome to Sacred Region!"
After that, she left coolly without looking back again. In the vast hall, there were only the two of them; Sir Guntur and Danan, the Number Seven.
"Study well, don"t be like those brats just now who only play around. You have some potentials inside, I hope you can nurture them well and utilize them to the fullest later. There will be a selection in the near future, I"ll personally teach you to prepare yourself for the selection. If you"re selected, the real study will begin at that time. Just prepare yourself." Sir Guntur said to him. Even though his old face still looked hard and unapproachable, he had softened up a bit.
"May I know what selection is it?"
"Selection to be an adviser. After you"re selected, you will be trained a lot harder than before to fit in your role. After that, you will be appointed to your work place." Sir Guntur said casually, but from the way he talked, Danan knew this old man was hiding some important information.
Never mind, Sir Guntur wanted him to be an adviser? Even though he didn"t know what kind of adviser it was, Danan knew it wouldn"t be bad.
Little did he know, he was going to be appointed in the most prominent army in Middle Region, and his role was not only as an adviser, but also strategist, and most importantly... a babysitter.
Taking care a teenager while he himself had existed for more than a hundred years could be considered babysitting, right?